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The outbreak likely began with a patient in the hospital’s rehabilitation unit on Jan. 31, said Halton Healthcare Services.

Another 40 discharged patients are at a slight risk of developing scabies. The hospital is in the process of contacting these patients, and their families, suggesting they watch for any symptoms and see their family physicians if they occur.

All hospital staff who showed symptoms, as well as their families, have been treated, said Dr. Neil Rau, medical director of infection, prevention and control at Halton Healthcare Services.

Staff who did not show symptoms, but “may have been exposed” have been contacted “to provide preventative treatment,” Rau said in a news release.

“In-patients on the unit where the patient is located are also receiving preventative treatment,” he said.

In scabies, microscopic mites burrow under the skin and lay eggs that eventually hatch, to which the body has an allergic reaction. The most common symptom is extreme itching.

Scabies usually spreads through frequent skin-to-skin-contact. Sharing clothing, towels or linen increases the risk of transmission.

Rau said the hospital’s attempts to quell the outbreak were hampered by a province-wide shortage of the lotion used to treat scabies. The lotion can be bought over-the-counter at most pharmacies.

This forced the hospital to stagger treatments, beginning with those who showed symptoms and then getting to the cases without symptoms, the news release stated. Following treatment, scabies is no longer considered contagious.

Scabies has an incubation period of two to six weeks, so the hospital will continue to monitor patients for the maximum period, until March 14.

There are no hospital unit closures or restrictions in place, and it is perfectly safe for people to continue visiting patients, Rau said.

The last seen scabies outbreak at Oakville-Trafalgar hospital was in 1990, Halton Healthcare Services said.